eyes and prepared himself. Onto his finger he slid the thing and he waited for its effect to take hold of him.
After a moment, he opened his eyes again, bewildered.
‘Nothing!’ he declared, and pulled the ring off and scrutinised itindisbelief, even biting its edge to see if it was solid. He popped it onto another finger,and again there was no effect. ‘What is this? I thought this thing was full of power?’
‘Of course not, you old fool. There is no power within it at all. These kinds of magical relics are useless to anyone who already has attained their power. Their only effect is to remove the obstacles to allow the wearer to reach their own potential. It is a ring for beginners,that is all.’
‘I would never have believed it.’
‘For an apprentice or someone not schooled in magic, such as I, it is a blessing, but for an experienced magician such as you, this relic is as useless as spectacles for the well-sighted or a crutch for the able- bodied.’
‘But Samuel?’ the old man began.
‘Samuel was anxious and stubborn. He grew reliant on the ring and that was his downfall. Whatever was keeping him from his power was of his own making, butany magic he did wield was his.’
‘Then I have no use for the thing either.’
‘Don’t you want to keep it for your new king?’
But the old man only displayed contempt at the suggestion. ‘
She reached across and took the ring back into the folds of her pale garments. ‘Then I will use it to tempt Thann. When he decides to join my side, it will be a symbol of our union. Are you not worried that I am keeping your Emperor?’
‘Not at all. I wanted him dead for a long time. As long as you keep him, I am not worried. Even if he were to return, the coming child would make hisclaim to theEmpire redundant. Now, all I have to do is wait for the birth. Perhaps I will go down and see what is holding them up. You said it wouldnot be long?’
‘I would not do that if I were you,’ Alahativa told him.
‘Oh?’
‘The young woman has a novel ability, so the good Ambassador Canyon revealed. He even experienced it firsthand, much to his dismay. She can absorb the energy of others, gaining from their strength at the cost of their lives. She can devour people, leaving nothingbehindbut the clothes they are wearing. If the labour is difficult, my healers and midwives are there to act as nourishment for her, but I would not recommendthatanyone else be in the room. I will ensure she lives until the child is born. At that point, my servants will go in and sever her head quickly and painlessly. It will assure she has a quick death and that she does not bother me any longer. I have persevered nine months of misery putting up with that woman.’
‘Fascinating. I never thought anyone else would learn of such a spell. I know a similar spell of Sapping, but she seems to have mastered the concept beyond what I thought possible.’
‘Poor Samuel thought so highly of you. It’s a wonder you could put him through all this. He really was a naive boy.’
‘I couldn’t. That’s why I sent Tudor on my behalf. It was his task to put the two together, but he did not quite succeed in that matter,hence the need for our bargain. Also, I had business in the north that has kept me busy until now. I must admit I am not happy with what happened to Samuel in the end, but it is just another sin I will need to atone for one day, along with all the rest.’
‘Don’t worry,’ she reassured the old magician. ‘His death was quick and painless. I did not want him to suffer, but I could not tolerate him after he destroyed my wizards-and,once the woman was with child, we had no need for him. Despite his faults, he was quite endearing. It’s no wonder the Koian woman loved him.’
‘I was told she was a heartless puppet, incapable of such feelings. How can you tell?’
‘Come now, Janus. I have been on this earth long enough to know such things; and, I am a woman. She is a tormented soul, trapped within herself by the foolish customs of her people, but she loved him-I have no doubt. She knew she was supposed to bed him from the start, but she would not, no matter how Canyon commanded her. But,somehow,that foolish boy won her over and she gave herself to him willingly. Come, I am tired of waiting. I shall have the healers hurry the birth andI will makeready my axeman.’
‘Wait,’ Anthem said, holding his hand up for silence. The noises of celebration from outside the window continued, but the old man stood slowly and surveyed the room, listening intently.
‘What is it?’ Alahativa asked, coming to stand beside him, with her shimmering gown flowing over her body.
‘I feel something. A strange sensation, but familiar-a magician-a spell of scrying. I have felt it before. It feels like…’ A look of realisation then came over him. ‘It is Samuel. He’s alive!’
‘What do you mean? He can’t be.’ A look of guilt and panic overwhelmed her.
‘I can feel his presence in this very room. He’s alive, he’s here and he’s heard everything we’ve said.’
‘What do you mean? It cannot be true,’ and she looked around to the corners of the room, while her guardsmen stepped from the shadows and drew their swords nervously. ‘We left him for dead.’
‘You foolish woman! What do you mean? Didn’t you see to it yourself?’
‘He couldn’t possibly have survived what we did to him. We tortured him and made him a cripple. He was left for the rats! Can he escape my dungeons? No one should be able to use magic beneath the mountain. It is just not possible!’
‘Who knows what he can do, woman? He could be capable of anything.’
‘Quickly! Get the child. Kill the woman. Get every wizard and warrior to the catacombs and stop him before he can escape. We must not allow him toescape fromthe tunnels. If he knows what we are doing, he will not be pleased. He will come for us both!’
With that, her commands began to beechoedalong the halls with a great panic.
In the deepest darkest cell of the Desert Queen’s dungeons, far beneath the twisting catacombs of Mount Karthma, Samuel awoke. Within his prison, it was utterly black and as quiet as a tomb.
‘Not again,’ came a whisper in the darkness. ‘I will not lose her.’
Magic bloomed within him-impossibly beautiful, like a many-petalled flower of blue and white, rising from the parched desert floor. It filled him with strength, growing and intensifying within the safety of his body, harboured from the nullifying effect of the mountain stone. Somehow, he had achieved what could not be done, gathering magic when his magic had been lost, summoning power in a place where it could not be reached.
Left for dead, his mind and body had healed over the long months. He had turned inwards, finding new paths to the light as he had fled from the dark. As Balten had told him, the suffering and the silence had taught him much. It had liberated him from the confines of himself and he had become something new entirely.
Still, the eternal presence of the mountain continued to weigh down upon him and the fire of magic within his belly could only grow so large. His body was broken and every mote of power he could summon went into sustaining his ruined form.
A heavy clank echoed down from above and, astonishingly, the cell trapdoor was opened. The yellow glow of lantern light shone down upon him like a beam from heaven and he waited, bathed in the light, while figures murmured above.
A rope dropped down and Samuel stood to his feet. His muscles felt like dried cords as they slid and pulled his withered limbs into place. He flexed the knuckles of his left hand and he could feel his blood as it began to stream through his veins with renewed vigour. His magic was doing its work, restoring him piece by tiny piece, but it was slowgoing. He would need to be free of the mountain’s embrace and then he would rebuild himself properly.
He grasped the rope and twisted it around and around,so as to knot his hand with it. He waited, and the slack was gathered up, until he stood with his arm held tightly above him. It felt as it his shoulder was going to tear from the joint, but more heaving from above had his toes lifting from the ground and he rose into the narrowed chute, dangling from the rope like an unsightly ornament. At any other time,such a thing would have been excruciating, but his arm was little more than a desiccated ribbon of flesh wrapped around bone-and he felt nothing of it.
As his hand broke the surface of the shaft, arms came down and grasped him, pulling him up and into the
